Irish - let's speak it!

Just the other day I saw two videos on AtomFilms. Both of them were by a guy called Daniel O'Hara. Daniel comes from Ireland and made 2 short films which he posted there.

The first one is called "Fluent Dysphasia".



Here is a plot summary by an IMDB member on IMDB:

A father in Ireland goes to watch a football match with his buddy while his daughter has to study Irish, or Gaelic - the ancient language of Ireland. After over-celebrating his club's victory, he awakes in the morning and finds he only speaks Irish, and that he doesn't even understand English. His buddy is aghast at this situation, believing his friend to have become possessed, but his daughter manages to translate his friend's assertion that this change may have been caused by a blow to the head during the revelries of the past evening's celebrations. They decide to hit him again, and use a frying pan for the job. Disastrous results ensue.
The second video is called "Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom" which in Irish means "My name is Yu Ming".



This plot summary is taken from Wikipedia:

Bored with his life in China, shop worker Yu Ming decides to visit a random country and picks Ireland by spinning a globe. He goes to the library where an atlas informs him that the official language of Ireland is "Gaelic". Consequently he learns and becomes perfectly fluent in Irish before his trip.

The film follows his adventures in trying to be understood in Dublin, where most of the population has little or no grasp of the language. For example, when he arrives at a Dublin hostel, Yu Ming says, "Ba mhaith liom leaba anseo" ("I would like a bed here"). The Australian receptionist assumes that Ming is speaking Chinese, and explains that he doesn't understand.

Yu Ming then heads to a bar in order to seek work and again his "Gaelic" lets him down. He asks the barman, "An bhfuil aon obair?" ("Is there any work?") and the barman stares blankly at him, not understanding a word. An old man at the end of the bar listens in awe as the Chinese man can speak the Irish mother tongue and he invites him for a drink and explains the misunderstanding.

I think that it is very important to keep a language like Irish alive because it could die out like it did in the second video. I also think that for those of you who live in Ireland that you should encourage your children to learn their mother tongue. If you are looking for a random language to learn it hopefully won't take a globe for you to choose but you may just choose Irish. If you're looking for a challenge then I recommend Irish.

I know that one reason that I am interested in learning Irish is because of the challenges that it brings with it. I see them as challenges but you may see it differently.

Irish - let's speak it!